Too late
by Mimozka
Summary: Willabeth oneshot: Will is facing the gallows for helping Jack. Will Elizabeth finally admit her feelings for him? please R
1. Chapter 1

_**Too Late**_

It had been a day since Will Turner's attempt to set free Captain Jack Sparrow had failed. After the East India Trading Company arrested him, he was thrown in prison along with the legendary captain.

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Today, was a special day in Port – Royal, the occasion that made it special was an execution – that of Jack Sparrow and Will Turner...

Through this day Elizabeth Swann was doing her best to stop Will's execution. She couldn't take the view of her dead beloved, although he didn't know about her feelings, because she was engaged to another man...

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It was time to go to the main square; Elizabeth was desperate, because all of her attempts to free Will had failed.  
She took her place between her father and the commodore – her fiancé, and waited…  
The whole town was gathering on the square to see the event. Some felt sorry for Will's hanging as he was a good man, while others had the opinion that this is exactly what he deserved for helping a pirate.  
Guards showed, they were leading prisoners to the gallows. Elizabeth's heartbeat fastened when she saw Will.

He looked so different than usual. His usually combed and tied back hair was now falling freely and messily on the two sides of his face. His clothes, always clean, were now dirty and torn at a few places… His face lacked the encouraging and cheerful smile. His eyes… They sent a shiver down her spine… His normally warm, full with life eyes were now hollow, lifeless even. The sparkle of undying optimism was also gone; she got the chance to look into his eyes for a moment, what she saw there horrified her… He was defeated… He surrendered to his fate… He didn't care; as if… As if he had nothing to lose… She felt her eyes well with tears. She wanted to cry, but her agony was more than tears.  
"Elizabeth, are you feeling alright?" she heard the distant voice of her fiancé. Though he was standing only a step or two away from her his voice seemed incredibly distant and blurry… She was so troubled with Will's fate that she didn't see, hear or care for anyone else around her.  
She had just opened her mouth with the intention to answer him when a thrill of fear washed her body. Her eyes widened in horror and her answer got lost somewhere in her throat on its way to her lips. The hangman has just put the rope around Will's neck. She felt how her heart was breaking into pieces and bleeding to the view of her condemned beloved. She was about to break down when the hangman stretched his hand to reach the hanging pole. She turned her head aside, not wanting to see and not being strong enough to bear the view of him hanging lifeless in front of her… If only there was something she could do… She wouldn't think twice.  
Just as she was mentally preparing herself to what was about to happen she heard the voice of her father piercing the tension and quiet spread among the entire place.  
"Wait! Pirates or not they deserve a last wish as every other prisoner who steps here" he said. Elizabeth's heart was full of gratefulness to her father. She raised her look up back toward the gallows and the hope sparkled again in her eyes. Perhaps it was not yet lost. Maybe she still had a chance to save him…  
After all no one was powerful enough to oppose the governor's will and orders.

"Do you have any last requests?" asked the hangman, seeing there was no way to escape the governor's request.

"I'd like a last glass of rum" said Jack, causing Will and Elizabeth grin weakly. Amazing it was how even when death was knocking on his threshold Jack Sparrow was still himself.

"And you?" the hangman addressed Will with a hint of mock.

"All I want is to say something" the hangman nodded his head at him, signing him to say whatever he wished to. Will scanned the crowd and when they fell on the desperate look of Elizabeth, he said: "I love you"

Elizabeth's eyes widened and her breath stopped for a moment. She looked into his eyes… Into his beautiful, round, deep brown eyes, into the ocean of dark chocolate and saw he meant every syllable he uttered. She started to cry, these three words were all she ever wished him to tell her… All she ever craved to hear… But why now? Why did he tell her this now, when he is only a step away from dying? Why didn't he tell her earlier when there was still a chance for them to be?  
She disengaged herself from her father's hand, ran down the few stairs and headed toward the gallows making her way through the crowd.

"Elizabeth!" she heard her father shouting behind her, but she didn't care and kept running.

"NOO!" she cried as reaching the gallows, only mere seconds before the hangman pulled the pole.  
Everybody's gazes were fixed upon her, not understanding her actions.

"Will…" she breathed his name; tears were now falling freely down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around Will's neck and drew his lips into a kiss – full of love, tenderness and despair. "I love you too" she said crying as they parted. Will held his hand out to her cheek caressed it and wiped her tears away. He hated to see her cry.

"Don't cry my love," he soothed and hugged her. But tears welled his eyes as well and he knew his request was impossible t o perform. "One day we will be together again, you'll see"

"Please step back, Miss Swann" the hangman suddenly said putting an end to their short lived reunion and bringing them back into the cold reality they were in.

"No" said quietly Elizabeth, unwilling to let go of Will.

The hangman looked at the other side of the square toward the commodore, that one nodded his head toward a couple of marine soldiers.  
His orders were immediately performed. The two soldiers reached the gallows and stood next to the hangman, waiting for further orders.

"Ms Swann, I ask you to leave the prisoner to bear his sentence" the hangman once again addressed Elizabeth. That one's answer was just the same as the previous time he had asked her "You leave me no choice then" he nodded his head toward the soldiers and they step forward toward Elizabeth grabbing her by the arms and trying to separate her from Will.

"No! Let go of me! Will!" she started screaming and clung to him even more desperately than before. The man holding her left gave up and grabbed her by the waist, thinking this would be a better position to help him perform his order from. His calculations however, proved themselves wrong as the instant he wrapped her waist with his arms he felt a kick in his stomach. Elizabeth was now facing him with a fierce expression on her face. The poor man fell on the wooden beams clutching his stomach with pain.  
The other soldier who noticed that Elizabeth was now free from Will's arms decided to take advantage of the situation.  
He quickly moved toward her and grabbed her by the waist dragging her away. Elizabeth started shouting and kicking in the air in despair. She struggled with all her strength and being, but the man holding her was stronger than her.

Finally free to perform his duties, and deciding that way enough time was wasted on exchange of loving words, the hangman pulled the hanging pole. Right there, with no further warnings, just in front of her eyes.  
The ropes around Jack and Will's necks tightened. The solid beams under their feet were no more. Their necks cracked, but did not break. This, however, did not mean it was over. The ropes were making it harder and harder to breathe. They both gasped desperately for air, feeling its lack in their lungs.

"Elizabeth…" she could barely hear Will's last breath, before seeing the way his head slightly bent to his left arm, lifelessly.

"NO!!" shouted Elizabeth dropping down on the floor after feeling the grip around her waist loosen. The tears were again falling down her face.

While she was crying, two men untied Will and Jack's bodies and carried them to a close cart, prepared for the occasion.  
Elizabeth rose up and got closer to the man carrying Will's body. The man, sensing that she needed some time to say her goodbyes, left him gently on the floor and stepped away, giving her some sort of privacy. Elizabeth leaned over his lifeless body and drew her finger through his hair and face, closing his opened eyes as well.  
She caressed his face just as tenderly and lovingly as he had caressed her only a few minutes ago. "No one will ever separate us my love" she whispered, took him into her arms and laid her head on his chest.

"Elizabeth," she heard her father's whisper behind her "He's gone" Elizabeth didn't pay the least attention to him, but continued caressing Will's face.

"Elizabeth," she heard another male voice, one she now despised "Let's go home" the voice of James Norrington said putting his hand on her shoulder.  
She rose her head up from her beloved to look at him.  
He looked so calm and indifferent as if he was made of stone.  
There was another thing, however, that attracted her attention to him. She saw something sparkling in the sun from under his coat.  
She suddenly rose up leaving Will gently on the ground.

"You're right, commodore, we really must be going" she said as indifferently as she could. Elizabeth then made a few steps and collapsed.

"Elizabeth," Norrington exclaimed and caught her just before her knees met the floor.  
Then as holding her in his arms, he felt his coat being pushed aside and before he knew it Elizabeth was standing on her feet in front of him, holding a small dagger in her hand.

"Elizabeth! What are you doing?" asked her father with scare, hoping his daughter was not up to what he thought she was.

"I begged you to set him free, but you refused to listen! You took away my love and I'm not willing to live without it!" said his daughter through her tears and put the dagger's blade against her chest.

"You can't be seriously meaning it" James said with a hint of mock-fear in his voice.  
Elizabeth only looked him in the eyes not saying a single word.  
Then suddenly, she stabbed the dagger into her chest, at the place of her heart, still not tearing her cold gaze from Norrington's face. Blood covered the handle and her wrist and stained her expensive dress, the pain was killing her, but she didn't care. She was going to see Will again. He was right no one would ever separate them. Not even death itself.  
With her last pieces of strength she walked back the few steps to Will's body. "I'm coming Will" her last breath was, and then she collapsed lifeless next to her beloved's body.

The End

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N/A: I've made a few changes and added some more details to the story, I hope you'll find it interesting. I want to thank **Lasgalendil** for the useful advices she gave me.  
Anyway, thank you for reading and if it's not too much do drop a review after reading.

love you all,  
Mimozka


	2. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Author's note:  
First of all, Happy New Year to all!  
I changed the plot a bit adding more details and characters to the story. I would be grateful if you check it out and tell me your opinion about it!

wish you a great 2009,

Mimozka


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